Around half of Kiwis admit they are baffled about how to eat healthily. Think about that. That is one in two people. Half the nation. There is no better indication that the modern [...]

A couple of years ago Air New Zealand’s April Fools prank was the launch of a new ‘pay what you weigh’ fare. This year Air Samoa made that concept a reality by charging its passeng[...]

Recently a coroner’s report fingered excessive consumption of Coca Cola in the death of an Invercargill woman. She apparently drank 10 litres per day – the coroner estimated that t[...]

I have been reading the news from India and talking to Geoff who co-authored the book Health Cheque with me a couple of years ago. One thing we discussed in the book was issues aro[...]

Gareth Morgan and Geoff Simmons, Authors of Health Cheque Prescription One: Managing Demand – reducing the demand for healthcare services by improving prevention, catching problems[...]

In general, National has been focused on improving the efficiency of service delivery, and ploughing those savings back into training more doctors and doing more elective surgery. [...]

Interviewer: Why is Pharmac under fire for not being transparent and accountable? Is that really the case? Geoff: Well, Pharmac has to negotiate a limited budget with American phar[...]

Gareth Morgan and Geoff Simmons, Health Cheque authors The argument of Medicines New Zealand was finally laid before the public last week (Pharmac’s outlet- mall approach inj[...]

Healthcare was the big winner in the budget, signalling that it remains a priority for the Government. With a ‘health inflation’ rate of about 4%, this budget will still probably f[...]

Speaking of those that bleat the loudest, last week Counties Manukau DHB (CMDHB) released a report in the New Zealand Medical Journal about the costs of treatment in the last year [...]